BY GRANT ROTH | I have been on SCRUFF for a little over a year now. In this period, I have met not only guys to hook up with, but also good friends and confidants. The dating app was where I first learned about Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP; a daily pill that has proven effective in protecting HIV-negative individuals from acquiring the disease). SCRUFF has also enabled me to chat with guys all across the world about common interests, HIV/AIDS advocacy, and LGBTQ history. I am a member of the Millennial generation. For us, finding information via the Internet, and by chatting with other gay men, is the norm.
Of course, things have not always been this way. My older friends talk about how they found out information about HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ history and culture from their friends, the news media, and their own personal experiences. When they were my age (20), they did not have the same interconnectedness that I have always known. This piqued my interest when I started looking through profiles of SCRUFF. I noticed a stark difference in how Millennials portrayed themselves, compared to the “AIDS Generation” – a term coined by my mentor, Dr. Perry N. Halkitis, to describe the men who came of age during the AIDS crisis (today, these men are in their 50s or older). I wondered how the context from which these two generations of men came influences their online presence.
I could have looked at income, upbringing, hometown, and family dynamics – but this would have involved speaking with many individuals. Instead, I decided to look at characteristics I would be able to glean from a profile without having to do too much digging: age, location, and HIV status. I saw all of these as a crucial part of a SCRUFF user’s identity (on and off of the application), as well as a good way to organize the profiles I came across.